a. [ F., fr. It. moralis, fr. mos, moris, manner, custom, habit, way of life, conduct. ] 1. Relating to duty or obligation; pertaining to those intentions and actions of which right and wrong, virtue and vice, are predicated, or to the rules by which such intentions and actions ought to be directed; relating to the practice, manners, or conduct of men as social beings in relation to each other, as respects right and wrong, so far as they are properly subject to rules. [ 1913 Webster ]

Keep at the least within the compass of moral actions, which have in them vice or virtue. Hooker. [ 1913 Webster ]

Mankind is broken loose from moral bands. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

She had wandered without rule or guidance in a moral wilderness. Hawthorne. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Conformed to accepted rules of right; acting in conformity with such rules; virtuous; just; as, a moral man. Used sometimes in distinction from religious; as, a moral rather than a religious life. [ 1913 Webster ]

The wiser and more moral part of mankind. Sir M. Hale. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Capable of right and wrong action or of being governed by a sense of right; subject to the law of duty. [ 1913 Webster ]

A moral agent is a being capable of those actions that have a moral quality, and which can properly be denominated good or evil in a moral sense. J. Edwards. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. Acting upon or through one's moral nature or sense of right, or suited to act in such a manner; as, a moral arguments; moral considerations. Sometimes opposed to material and physical; as, moral pressure or support. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. Supported by reason or probability; practically sufficient; -- opposed to legal or demonstrable; as, a moral evidence; a moral certainty. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. Serving to teach or convey a moral; as, a moral lesson; moral tales. [ 1913 Webster ]

Moral agent, a being who is capable of acting with reference to right and wrong. --
Moral certainty, a very high degree or probability, although not demonstrable as a certainty; a probability of so high a degree that it can be confidently acted upon in the affairs of life; as, there is a moral certainty of his guilt. --
Moral insanity, insanity, so called, of the moral system; badness alleged to be irresponsible. --
Moral philosophy, the science of duty; the science which treats of the nature and condition of man as a moral being, of the duties which result from his moral relations, and the reasons on which they are founded. --
Moral play, an allegorical play; a morality. [ Obs. ] --
Moral sense, the power of moral judgment and feeling; the capacity to perceive what is right or wrong in moral conduct, and to approve or disapprove, independently of education or the knowledge of any positive rule or law. --
Moral theology, theology applied to morals; practical theology; casuistry. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. The doctrine or practice of the duties of life; manner of living as regards right and wrong; conduct; behavior; -- usually in the plural. [ 1913 Webster ]

Corrupt in their morals as vice could make them. South. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The inner meaning or significance of a fable, a narrative, an occurrence, an experience, etc.; the practical lesson which anything is designed or fitted to teach; the doctrine meant to be inculcated by a fiction; a maxim. [ 1913 Webster ]

Thus may we gather honey from the weed,
And make a moral of the devil himself. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

To point a moral, or adorn a tale. Johnson. [ 1913 Webster ]

We protest against the principle that the world of pure comedy is one into which no moral enters. Macaulay. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. A morality play. See Morality, 5. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. To moralize. [ Obs. ] Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. [ F. See Moral, a. ] The moral condition, or the condition in other respects, so far as it is affected by, or dependent upon, moral considerations, such as zeal, spirit, hope, and confidence; mental state, as of a body of men, an army, and the like. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A moralizer. [ Obs. ] Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. moralize. [ Chiefly Brit. ] [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. A maxim or saying embodying a moral truth. Farrar. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. F. moraliste. ] 1. One who moralizes; one who teaches or animadverts upon the duties of life; a writer of essays intended to correct vice and inculcate moral duties. Addison. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. One who practices moral duties; a person who lives in conformity with moral rules; one of correct deportment and dealings with his fellow-creatures; -- sometimes used in contradistinction to one whose life is controlled by religious motives. [ 1913 Webster ]

The love (in the moralist of virtue, but in the Christian) of God himself. Hammond. [ 1913 Webster ]

adj. 1. narrowly and conventionally moral; -- of people. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

2. disposed to moralize{ 2 }; -- of people.
Syn. -- moralizing. [ PJC ]

n.; pl. Moralities [ L. moralitas: cf. F. moralité. ] 1. The relation of conformity or nonconformity to the moral standard or rule; quality of an intention, a character, an action, a principle, or a sentiment, when tried by the standard of right. [ 1913 Webster ]

The morality of an action is founded in the freedom of that principle, by virtue of which it is in the agent's power, having all things ready and requisite to the performance of an action, either to perform or not perform it. South. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The quality of an action which renders it good; the conformity of an act to the accepted standard of right. [ 1913 Webster ]

Of moralitee he was the flower. Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

I am bold to think that morality is capable of demonstration. Locke. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. The doctrines or rules of moral duties, or the duties of men in their social character; ethics. [ 1913 Webster ]

The end of morality is to procure the affections to obey reason, and not to invade it. Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

The system of morality to be gathered out of . . . ancient sages falls very short of that delivered in the gospel. Swift. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. The practice of the moral duties; rectitude of life; conformity to the standard of right; virtue; as, we often admire the politeness of men whose morality we question. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. A kind of allegorical play, so termed because it consisted of discourses in praise of morality between actors representing such characters as Charity, Faith, Death, Vice, etc. Such plays were occasionally exhibited as late as the reign of Henry VIII. Strutt. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. Intent; meaning; moral. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Taketh the morality thereof, good men. Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]